Animal trap

ABSTRACT

An animal trap consisting of a container having a floor provided with a single entry port, an upstanding perimetral wall, a removable cover, preferably resiliently removably held in place on the container, the floor being supported above the ground or other supporting surface at such a level as to provide shelter for a rat or other animal as he seeks to enter the port, a chimney or substantially vertical passageway inside the container and registering with the port, a light, hinged closure for the upper end of the chimney gravity-biased to closed position to which it tends to fall without binding and without a loud clapping noise, latch means for holding the closure in open position and trigger means disposed near the floor and within the container and effective to release the latch means when actuated by an animal within the container. Preferably, the perimetral wall of the chimney is provided with a vertically extended cluster of small perforations through which an animal within the chimney can see and scent bait on the floor of the container and which aids the animal in climbing the vertical wall of the chimney to enter the container past the chimney door; and preferably the device includes a spring finger which overlies the closure and is slightly flexed when the closure is in fully open, latched position, whereby some pressure is applied to the latch to resist accidental disengagement of the latch.

ilnited States Patent Fruits [54] ANIMAL TRAP [72] Inventor: Burl I E.Fruits, R.R. 1,

Waynetown, Ind. 47990 [22] Filed: March 29, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 128,872

[52] US. Cl ..43/61 [51] Int. Cl. ..A0lm 23/18 [58] Field of Search..43/6l,67, 121

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 866,987 9/1907 Turner..43/61 2,249,601 7/1941 Chapman ..43/121 Primary ExaminerWarner H. CampAtt0rneyHood, Gust, Irish, Lundy & Coffey [57] ABSTRACT An animal trapconsisting of a container having a floor provided with a single entryport, an upstanding perirnetral wall, a removable cover, preferably [451Sept. 5, 1972 resiliently removably held in place on the container, thefloor being supported above the ground or other supporting surface atsuch a level as to provide shelter for a rat or other animal as he seeksto enter the port, a chimney or substantially vertical passageway insidethe container and registering with the port, a light, hinged closure forthe upper end of the chimney gravi ty-biased to closed position to whichit tends to fall without binding and without a loud clapping noise,latch means for holding the closure in open position and trigger meansdisposed near the floor and within the container and effective torelease the latch means when actuated by an animal within the container.Preferably, the perimetral wall of the chimney is provided with avertically extended cluster of small perforations through which ananimal within the chimney can see and scent bait on the floor of thecontainer and which aids the animal in climbing the vertical wall of thechimney to enter the container past the chimney door; and preferably thedevice includes a spring finger which overlies the closure and isslightly flexed when the closure is in fully open, latched position,whereby some pressure is applied to the latch to resist accidentaldisengagement of the latch.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PFEFEDSEP 5 m2 I NVENTOR BURL E FRUITSANIMAL TRAP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The common brown rat, a naturalburrowing rodent, causes millions of dollars of loss to farmers in thiscountry every year. He is a wily creature which is extremely difficultto trap. Although hundreds of types of traps have been devised and, tosome extent, used, so far as I am advised there has never been a trulysuccessful rat trap. Therefore, poisons are widely used; but since theyare dangerous to domestic animals and even to children, most farmersprefer to avoid them.

The rat spends very little time above ground and then only in desperatesearch of food and water. He is a gluttonous rodent which will go togreat lengths to feed out of sight of his natural enemies, particularlyman, dogs and cats.

The rats fear of being exposed to his natural enemies out in the open isan inherited characteristic. In his feeding habits and in travellingfrom one location to another, he wants a good cover over and around him.It is my theory that rats are skeptical of everything out in the open asbeing a trap. Rats are intelligent and cunning and are quick to figureout most traps that may cost them their lives and are cautious of everymove they make out in the open.

When rats are out in the open they never venture more than a few feetfrom their burrows or other cover. They are continually darting undersome cover, and from under the cover they take a good look at theirsurroundings for any danger before moving to another cover. However, intall grass and weeds that furnish excellent cover, a rat seldom stopsuntil he gets to his destination. When rats are in some good cover suchas tall grass and weeds, or under some type of floor, they seem to losemost of their shyness and are far more bold in their eating habits thanwhen exposed in the open. As an illustration, at various times whilefeeding cattle from a long, stationary trough in my barn, I have noticeda group of rats beneath the trough actually moving along the trough withme as I carried ground feed from one end of the trough to the other,there being approximately 6 inches of space beneath the floor of thetrough. I could easily see what the rats were doing. They were boldenough to search out any ground grain that may have sifted through asmall crack in the floor and eat the grain in a matter of inches from myfeet, so long as they were sheltered by the overlying trough.

I have known rats to gnaw a 2-inch hole through 1% inch seasoned whiteoak lumber in the floor of a cattle feeder to feed from the underneathside, rather than to climb I foot over the outside of the trough whileexposed to their natural enemies. Apparently, a rat knows this 1 foot isdangerous for him.

On one occasion, during corn harvest, 1 spilled a few bushels of corninto a pile at the end of a corn elevator out in the open or feet fromany building. I left it there for some 3 weeks during which time it didnot significantly change in appearance. However, when I started to movethe pile I discovered that rats had dug a tunnel in the ground to apoint beneath the pile and had been feeding on the corn. Hungry ratswill often do the unpredictable and they will also do a lot of hard workto feed out of sight of all predators.

There has been much discussion among people who are experienced intrapping rats and who have found that it is easy to catch the first ratin almost any kind of baited trap but that it is very difficult to catchthe second rat in that trap and this is particularly true when a trap isnoisy or when a trap is of such character that the first rat is visibleto other rats while he is caught in a trap.

It is my present theory that rats are very sensitive to sharp, loudnoises, such as the report from any firearm or the noise resulting whentwo pieces of thin metal are vigorously slapped together or the sharp,loud snap of a trap when sprung and operated by some type of strongspring. Rats are sensitive to another rat or a group of rats indistress. When they see a member of their colony caught and secured by atrap, they are smart enough to avoid the same perdition and stay awayfrom the trap.

The trap of the present invention is so designed that, when it closes toimprison one or more rats, it makes very little noise and the imprisonedrats are not visible from the outside of the trap.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an animal trapso constructed and arranged as to attract and entrap small animals, andparticularly rats or mice, by catering to the instinctive and/oracquired tendencies of the target animals and allaying the fears of suchanimals so that they will readily enter the trap. More particularly, itis an object of the invention to provide a trap for rats so constructedthat the entrance to the trap is located in a position wherein a ratwill be sheltered from external view as he approaches the entrance, theentrance will appear to the rat to be clear so that ready escape willapparently be available, the rat will not have to squeeze through anyrestricted space as he enters the trap, the closure for the entrancewill remain open as successive rats pass it in a direction to enter thetrap but will almost certainly close promptly if any rat seeks egress ina frightened manner, the closure will fall into place relatively quietlywhen the latch mechanism is triggered and rats imprisoned in the trapwill not be visible from the outside and will not be so injured as to belikely to make noises of distress.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention maybe embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings,attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings areillustrative only, and that change may be made in the specificconstruction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated.

F IG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of a trap constructed inaccordance with the present invention, parts being broken away forclarity-of illustration;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on the line 22of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similarly enlarged, fragmental plan view inside the trap,showing the chimney, the closure, the latch and trigger mechanism andthe tensioning spring; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective illustrating a desirabledetail.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that I haveillustrated a container indicated generally by the reference numeral 10and constructed from sheet metal or similar material impervious to theamazing gnawing capacity of rats. The container 10 comprises a floor 11having a substantially central port 12 therethrough, and an upstandingperimetral wall 13. In the preferred form herein illustrated, thecontainer 10 is generally cylindrical.

A cover 41 generally fitting the contour of the upper end of thecontainer 10 is preferably provided with a plurality of springs 14removably engageable with hasps l suitably secured to the externalsurface of the wall 13, whereby said cover may be removably, resilientlyretained in place on said container. Preferably, but not necessarily,the cover 41 will comprise a circular frame filled with steel mesh sothat an attendant can see through the cover to determine whether or notany rats are imprisoned in the trap.

Feet 16 for the container are so proportioned, designed and arrangedthat the container 10 will be supported upon the ground or othersupporting surface with its floor 11 suitably elevated above suchsurface. The container is so dimensioned that its floor 1 1 willeffectively shelter an adult rat when the rats nose is in closeproximity to the port 12. The degree of elevation of the floor 11 issufficient to permit a sheltered rat to enter through the port 12. Whilethe bent rod or wire feet 16 illustrated in the drawings are admirablyadapted for their function, any other form of foot means may be used solong as it suitably locates the container, tends to support thecontainer in a stable fashion on an uneven surface and provides roombetween adjacent perimetrally spaced feet for access of rats to theshelter space beneath the container floor 11. Preferably, the foot meanswill comprise three equally spaced perimetrally arranged feet.

A chimney 17, preferably cylindrical and larger than the port 12 isarranged inside the container 10 upon the floor 11 in registry with theport 12. As shown and preferably, the chimney 17 is cylindrically formedfrom sheet metal with three inwardly extending, equally peripherallyspaced toes l8 integral with the bottom end of the chimney body, saidtoes being secured to the floor 11 by means of metal screws or bolts 19.

A closure or door 20 for the open upper end of the chimney 17 isproportioned and arranged to fit, with a sloppy clearance, within saidupper chimney end. Parallel fingers 21, 21 are suitably fixed to theinterior of the chimney wall near its upper end and support a hinge pin22 passing through a rolled tab 23 integral with the closure 20 toprovide a hinged support, generally of the carburetor float type, forsaid door. An inwardly extending finger 24 within the chimney at a pointopposite the hinge pin 22 provides a supporting rest for the door 20when in closed position. The particular hinge means illustratedeffectively inhibits binding of the door 20 in its intended movements.It will be clearly seen that the door 20 is gravity-biased to closedposition.

The trap includes latch means for delicately retaining the door 20 inopen position. Brackets 25 and 26 are welded or otherwise suitablysecured to the external surface of the chimney 17 near the upper endthereof, said brackets extending from said chimney in a nonradialdirection to support, near their distal ends, a pivot pin 27 upon anaxis whose extension meets an extension of the axis of the hinge pin 22in a large, acute angle. A lever 28 is joumalled, intermediate its ends,upon the pivot pin 27 for oscillation about said angularly related axisof the pin 27. Thus, there is defined a major lever arm 29 extendingupwardly from the pin 27 and formed, near its upper end, with a curvedportion 30 extending inwardly and then downwardly to its tip 31 which isengageable with the door 20 at a point 40 on the rim of said door whichpoint is substantially most remote from the hinge pin 22. Suchengagement, of course, is possible only when the door 20 is in its openposition.

The minor arm 32 of the lever 28 extends downwardly from the pin 27 to apoint close to the floor 1 1 and a trigger 33 is operatively engagedwith the distal end 34 of said lever arm 32. Preferably, but notnecessarily, the trigger 33 is hingedly pinned to the lever arm 32. Atany rate, said trigger is so proportioned and designed that its proximalend is supported above the floor 11 by the lever arm 32, while saidtrigger extends outwardly away from the chimney 17 to a point closelyadjacent the perimetral wall 13 of the container with its distal end 34preferably resting on the floor 11.

A spring finger 35, which may be formed from steel rod, has its base 36vertically welded to the chimney 17 near the upper end thereof, saidfinger being bent so that its body extends at an angle upwardly andsubstantially radially inwardly over the upper end of the chimney. Theparts are so proportioned and designed that, as the door 20 is movedtoward open position, it will engage the distal end 37 of the springfinger 35 before the door has attained a degree of opening which willpermit engagement of the tip 31 of the latch lever arm 29 with the doorrim. Thus, as opening movement of the door is continued, the springfinger 35 will be flexed so that, when the latch tip 31 is engaged withthe point 40 on the rim of the door 20, the spring finger 35 will exerta gentle pressure thereagainst tending to maintain latch engagementagainst gentle shocks and/or vibratrons.

It may be desirable to notch the latch tip slightly, as at 42, to renderthe engagement of the latch with the door 20 somewhat more retentive.

Preferably, but not necessarily, a hasp 38 is secured to the uppersurface of the door 20 to facilitate manipulation of said door eitherdirectly or through the use of a hook of some kind.

A refinement of the invention comprises the vertically arranged clusterof small perforations 39 formed in the chimney 17. These perforations,arranged as they are, not only give a timorous rat who has poked hishead through the port 12 into the chimney 17 to look around, anopportunity to see the bait on the floor 11 and perhaps to see one ormore other rats moving freely about in the container, but also provide aladder to assist the rat in climbing through the chimney 17 to emergethrough its upper end into the inside of the container.

It will be seen that the major lever arm 29 is of such length, shape andlocation that it does not obstruct egress of rats from the chimney pastthe open door 20 to the interior of the container 10. Thus, ordinarily,the trap will not be tripped as a rat enters the container and the doorwill remain open to permit other rats to follow. However, if a ratshould seek to jump from the floor of the container into the open mouthof the chimney, he would be very likely to strike either the door or thelever arm 29, thus releasing the latch engagement and permitting thedoor 20 to close.

Ordinarily, the door 20 will be held open until an animal, moving inrandom fashion about the floor of the container 10, depresses thetrigger 33. Such depression, of course, will swing the lever 28 ina'clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1 to withdraw the tip 31 fromengagement with the door 20. The initial increment of movement of thedoor 20 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 will remove thedoor from engagement with the spring finger 35, so that the door 20falls primarily under the influence of gravity alone into the brokenline position of FIG. 2 wherein the point 40 of the door rim rests uponthe finger 24. When the door is in that position, of course, there is nopossible way in which a rat could open it; and, since there is no otheregress from the container 10, whatever number of rats may be in thecontainer at the time when the latch is tripped will be effectivelyimprisoned.

I presently believe that, in an optimum embodiment of my invention forcatching rats, the diameter of the container should be approximately 18inches and its height, from floor to open top, should be approximately 8inches, while the legs 16 should be proportioned to locate the floor 11approximately 2 inches above the supporting surface. The port 12 shouldbe 2 inches in diameter and the chimney 17 should be approximately 3inches in diameter and 3 inches tall. It will be clear from inspectionof FIG. 2 that the open space at the top of the chimney when the door 20is open is at least as large as the port 12, so that a rat will not needto squeeze" through any opening into the container. Obviously, theabove-mentioned dimensions are merely optimum and not limitative. Asobviously, the structure may be scaled down to approximately half sizefor catching mice, or it can be increased in size for catching otheranimals.

The structure as herein disclosed is highly effective for its intendedpurpose. In one of my experiments I used a 55-gallon oil drum for thehousing of the trap structure. I cut the entire head out of the drum toform an open end. I cut a 2-inch round hole in the bottom end near thecenter and bolted the chimney and associated structure to the inside ofthe drum.

I used a rubber band to hold the door 20 in an open position. I thenplaced this device in the open driveway of my barn. This was in a newarea approximately 150 yards away from the area in which I had made mypreviously described experiments because I wanted the rats to be morenormal and less wise to any kind of traps. I set the drum on three2-inch wide blocks and baited the inside floor of the drum with groundcorn and hog supplement. The purpose of this experiment was to see howlong it would take for the rats to find the bait and if they would enterthe structure with door in open position.

Approximately 3 hours later, in the evening, I went to the barn to feedmy livestock. From a distance, I noticed a rat make a quick move fromunderneath the floor of my trap to dart across the open driveway. Almostat the same instant, another rat made a quick move from the oppositeside of the driveway toward the drum and ran underneath the floor. Iwatched the rats for several minutes going to and from the drum and thenI moved closer to the drum. I noticed each rat, before crossing thedriveway in either direction, looked carefully at the open drivewaybefore moving from one cover to the other.

I wanted to see if there were any rats on the inside of the drum; andwalking cautiously up and looking over into the open end of the drum, Isaw that the floor was completely hidden by the feeding rats.

The next morning, all the bait had been eaten and there were no ratsmoving toward or away from the trap. I removed the rubber band from thedoor, closed the door and rebaited the entire floor with ground hogfeed. I checked the trap frequently for three weeks, and not one singlerat raised the light door to enter the container to get at the bait.

Thereupon, I removed all of the bait, set the trigger mechanism andrebaited only a small area around the trigger with the deliberate intentof trying to catch one rat. Next morning I had one old female rat.

I destroyed that rat and moved the trap back to the area wherein I hadconducted by earlier-described experiments. Obviously, that area was ahandicap to the new trap. In one week, I took and destroyed 25 rats fromthat trap. On three occasions, I caught three rats at a time. The restof the 25 were caught as doubles or singles. At each setting, the floorwas baited on the trigger side only. I was not trying to catch a largenumber of rats at one time. Instead, I was interested in determining howmany times the structure could be successively tripped. It will beapparent from the above facts that my trap does not create anysignificant trap shyness in the rats.

It will be seen that, because of the particular structure of the trapdisclosed herein, it is highly effective to overcome the cunning andintelligence of rats and to attract them again and again to their doom.At the same time, its construction is such that domestic animals are notattracted and there is no way in which it can be dangerous or harmful tochildren.

What is claimed is:

1. An animal trap comprising a container having a floor and upstandingperimetral wall means, means for supporting said floor at a level spacedabove a supporting surface, said floor being formed with a port, anupstanding chimney registering with said port inside said container, ahinged closure for the upper end of said chimney gravity-biased towardclosed position, latch means cooperative with said closure to retainsaid closure in open position, and trigger means having a portiondisposed near said floor and effective, when moved, to release saidlatch means, thereby permitting said closure to fall to closed position.

2. The trap of claim 1 including a removable cover for the open top ofsaid container, and spring means for yieldably retaining said cover inclosing relation to said container top.

3. The trap of claim 1 in which the hinge for said closure is disposedadjacent an edge of said chimney and said closure opens upwardly, aspring finger having its proximal end anchored adjacent said edge andextending therefrom upwardly and inwardly to overlie said closure, thedistal end of said finger being disposed for engagement by said closureas said closure approaches latched position, whereby said finger isflexed when said closure reaches latched position.

4. The closure of claim 1 wherein said chimney is formed with a clusterof small perforations, said cluster extending from a point near the baseof said chimney to a point near the top of said chimney.

5. The trap of claim 1 in which said latch means comprises bracket meanssupported from said chimney and extending outwardly therefrom, pivotmeans supported from said bracket means upon an axis perpendicular to aline which is non-radial relative to said chimney, a lever rockablymounted, intermediate its ends, upon said pivot means to define a majorlever arm and a minor lever arm, the axis of oscillation of said leverdefining an acute angle with the axis of oscillation of said closure,said major lever arm rising above the upper end of said chimney toengage, when said closure is open, a point on the rim of said closuresubstantially most remote from the axis of oscillation of said closure,the minor lever arm extending downward to a point closely spaced abovesaid container floor, and a trigger connected to the distal end of saidminor lever arm and extending outwardly into adjacency with saidcontainer perimetral wall.

6. The trap of claim 1 in which said port is large enough to permit freepassage therethrough of the type of animal for which the trap isdesigned, and the clearance space past the closure, when latched in openposition, likewise will permit such free passage.

7. A rat trap according to claim 1 in which the recited parts are soproportioned and designed that an adult rat may have ready access to thespace between said supporting surface and said floor and, while withinsaid space, shall be fully sheltered, yet able readily to enter, and topass upwardly through, said chimney.

1. An animal trap comprising a container having a floor and upstandingperimetral wall means, means for supporting said floor at a level spacedabove a supporting surface, said floor being formed with a port, anupstanding chimney registering with said port inside said container, ahinged closure for the upper end of said chimney gravity-biased towardclosed position, latch means cooperative with said closure to retainsaid closure in open position, and trigger means having a portiondisposed near said floor and effective, when moved, to release saidlatch means, thereby permitting said closure to fall to closed position.2. The trap of claim 1 including a removable cover for the open top ofsaid container, and spring means for yieldably retaining said cover inclosing relation to said container top.
 3. The trap of claim 1 in whichthe hinge for said closure is disposed adjacent an edge of said chimneyand said closure opens upwardly, a spring finger having its proximal endanchored adjacent said edge and extending therefrom upwardly andinwardly to overlie said closure, the distal end of said finger beingdisposed for engagement by said closure as said closure approacheslatched position, whereby said finger is flexed when said closurereaches latched position.
 4. The closure of claim 1 wherein said chimneyis formed with a cluster of small perforations, said cluster extendingfrom a point near the base of said chimney to a point near the top ofsaid chimney.
 5. The trap of claim 1 in which said latch means comprisesbracket means supported from said chimney and extending outwardlytherefrom, pivot means supported from said bracket means upon an axisperpendicular to a line which is non-radial relative to said chimney, alever rockably mounted, intermediate its ends, upon said pivot means todefine a major lever arm and a minor lever arm, the axis of oscillationof said lever defining an acute angle with the axis of oscillation ofsaid closure, said major lever arm rising above the upper end of saidchimney to engage, when said closure is open, a point on the rim of saidclosure substantially most remote from the axis of oscillation of saidclosure, the minor lever arm extending downward to a point closelyspaced above said container floor, and a trigger connected to the distalend of said minor lever arm and extending outwardly into adjacency withsaid container perimetral wall.
 6. The trap of claim 1 in which saidport is large enough to permit free passage therethrough of the type ofanimal for which the trap is designed, and the clearance space past theclosure, when latched in open position, likewise will permit such freepassage.
 7. A rat trap according to claim 1 in which the recited partsare so proportioned and designed that an adult rat may have ready accessto the space between said supporting surface and said floor and, whilewithin said space, shall be fully sheltered, yet able readily to enter,and to pass upwardly through, said chimney.